Round
The States
New Delhi, 25 August
2018
Duplicate Voters
TRIAL IN MP, RAJASTHAN?
By Insaf
Democracy
may be in peril in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Rather, the Opposition
Congress is unambiguous about it, as there are signs that the BJP-ruled States
will not have a free and fair election. It has thus knocked on the doors of the
Supreme Court spelling out its apprehension. In Madhya Pradesh, State in-charge
Kamal Nath claimed there were ‘60 lakh duplicate, repeat, multiple, illegal,
invalid, false, etc, entries/voters in the electoral rolls.’ This after he had
a survey conducted at his own cost and the Election Commission was denying them
voters’ list in text mode, as mandated. Rajasthan in-charge Sachin Pilot too alleged
there were nearly a crore such duplicate voters in his State. Additionally, the
Congress demanded that direction be
given to the EC to conduct tests on Voter Verifiable paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)
machines in “at least 10 per cent randomly selected polling stations in each
Assembly constituency”. Remember, many an Opposition party blamed their poor
results in past elections on the EVMs, alleging that these had been tampered
with. Given the EC is the watchdog of free and fair polls, the apex court has
issued notice to Nirvachan Sadan as well both the States Election Commission.
The matter is listed for Friday next. Fingers would be crossed the Court remembers
the idiom-- a stitch in time saves nine!
* * * * * * *
Curbing
Drug Abuse
Drug addiction in
northern States has come into sharp focus. Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi and administrator of Chandigarh
have decided to fight narcotic drug abuse on a war footing and importantly together.
On Monday last, while participating in a ‘regional conference on Drugs --
Challenges & Strategies’ it was decided to set up a common central
secretariat in Panchkula for data collection and information sharing. While CMs
would meet every six months to monitor progress, officers would do so every
three months and SPs would have day-to-day consultation. The group would also:
tap UP and J&K to join in, ask Centre to have a national policy on drugs
and provide funds, restrict drug plantations, prevent diversion to neighbouring
States, crackdown on drug smuggling etc. All these efforts have one gaol: protect
youth, children and Gen Next from the harm of drugs. How successful will this
endeavour be, only time will tell?
* * * * * * *
Sikkim
Kept In Dark?
Sikkim has created a
flutter in the corridors of South Block. It’s Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has
claimed that on the Doklam issue New Delhi “neither consulted us, nor the Army
told us anything about the situation.” Worse, ‘our people are living in fear’
and it is only through the media that they got to know about the Doklam
standoff between India and China”. On his part, he told journalists that both
the State government and the people have shown ‘their love for the country and
worked for the interest of India.’ But there was nagging fear of a war with
China, especially in Kupup, the last inhabited village about 30 km from Doklam.
Clearly, the message being sent out is neither ignore not take the State for
granted. Will the Centre make amends or will it rebut the serious charge made
against it? Whatever it decides, it shouldn’t look the other way.
* * * * * * *
UP
Govt At Odds
Uttar Pradesh
government finds itself in a piquant situation. A petition before the Supreme
Court seeks grant of sanction to prosecute Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a
hate speech case, dating back to 2007. This after the Allahabad High Court this
February dismissed a plea seeking a CBI probe into the case, saying no
discrepancy was found in the probe already conducted. Earlier, the BJP government
refused the sanction on grounds the CD sent to the CFSL in October 2014 was
“tampered” with. But a question being raised is: can the Chief Minister, who
also holds the Home portfolio, be a “judge in his own case”! Notwithstanding
the anomaly, the petitioner has good reason to persist as in 2008 a magistrate
court in Gorakhpur had ordered initiation of a criminal case against Adityanath,
then an MP, for reportedly delivering a hate speech, which led to riots in the
district. And in a television programme he is reported to have admitted it. But
the case has been languishing for long years. Should there be hope for justice
at the end as the CJI-led bench has issued notice to the UP government and sought
a response within two weeks. Or will it be yet another case of justice delayed,
is justice denied.
* * * * * * *
Change
In J&K
A change of guard in
J&K may turn out to be a misadventure New Delhi could have avoided. Well
this is perhaps a message the Valley gave on the eve of Satya Malik taking over
as the troubled State’s new Governor, replacing NN Vohra, whose tenure lasted a
decade, irrespective of the party in power at the Centre. Malik was sworn-in on
Thursday last, but a day before violent incidents marred Id festivity in the
Valley with three policemen and a BJP activist shot dead. Besides, National
Conference President Farooq Abdullah was booed at and shown shoes at the Id
congregation in Srinagar. Telling signs of a mood swing, as under Governor’s
rule the Valley had seen a drop in stone-pelting incidents. Moreover, Vohra, a
bureaucrat was respected as an administrator by both political parties and the
people. On the other hand, Malik is a politician and would but obviously be
associated with the BJP, which as is known made the PDP-led government
unpopular. Malik has an onerous task before him to usher in the elusive
normalcy and more importantly ensure that local elections as announced by Vohra
take place. He would do well to bear in mind that J&K is no Bihar.
* * * * * * *
Goa Fails Miserably
Goa has
literally failed miserably. It needs to do its homework right on the education
system in the State. Shockingly, entire lot of 8,000 candidates, all graduates,
who appeared for an examination conducted for 80 posts advertised by the
Directorate of Accounts in October, failed to pass the test. None could secure
a minimum of 50 marks of the total 100 to qualify the exams held on 7 January.
The five-hour examination included a 100 marks paper on General Knowledge,
English and accounts-related questions and those who would have cleared it
would have had to go through the next step of interview before final selection.
While the directorate would contemplate re-exam, what is adding to the mystery
of a zero performance is that the results have been declared after an
eight-month gap. Opposition parties smell a rat. Apparently, government
recruitment in the State has perpetually been on hold, says the Congress and
accuses the ruling BJP of “playing with the future of educated unemployed
youth.” But it is AAP which hits the nail on the head. Failing of all
candidates, i said is “either a cruel joke” or a sad commentary on the “collapse”
of the State’s education system. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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